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by Chiu Yu-Tzu, TAIPEI TIMES

But, under strong pressure from US environmental groups one waste handler has given up, the EPA said. EPA spokeswoman Tanya Meekins told the Taipei Times yesterday that two waste handlers, Nevada-based US Ecology and Texas-based Waste Control Specialist, were still offering to accept and handle the dumping of the waste.

"The EPA is currently working with States (where the waste could be dumped) and the facilities to resolve remaining issues, including waste characterization,"said Meekins. "However, there was no specific date for a decision as to whether to accept the waste or not,_ Meekins said.

Idaho-based Envirosafe Services, which tried in July to import Formosa's waste to Tacoma Port in Washington, had informed the EPA that it was no longer looking to accept this waste because of the controversy of the issue, Meekins said.

The battle to find a resting place for the waste gained international attention in December when Formosa's 4,400 tons of mercury-tainted waste was discovered to have been illegally dumped in Cambodia.

After protest by residents here and in Cambodia and international pressure, the company was forced to take the waste back in April.

Since the waste was brought back to Taiwan it has stayed in dock at Kaohsiung Harbor on the condition that it would eventually be shipped out of the country again.

But such a task is proving not to be so easy for Formosa, two previous planned shipments to the US have been blocked by opposition from US environmental groups.

On Aug. 5, the waste was given another 45-day extension by Kaohsiung Harbor authorities, and Formosa is now making an effort to look for both overseas and domestic dumping sites.

With few takers being able to actually move the waste out of Kaohsiung, Formosa told Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration it could move the waste to Mailiao in Yunlin County.

Such a move is expected to spark sharp protest from residents there as well.

US-EPA spokeswoman Meekins stressed yesterday that US law currently allowed hazardous waste imports to proceed into the US without EPA approval.

"The importation of waste may proceed into the US as long as the receiving facility has an operating permit issued by the EPA or an authorized state, and as long as there is no international agreement that prohibits it," explained Meekins.

However, US environmentalists argue that the US-EPA should not act in a policy vacuum with respect to hazardous waste importation.

"Yes, what they mentioned about the US law is true, however the Taiwan EPA has said that they would not export the waste without agreement from the US-EPA," said Jim Puckett from Basel Action Network (BAN), a Seattle-based green organization.

BAN has been following the issue since December when FPG's waste was discovered in Cambodia, and has been communicating with the US-EPA over the issue since that time.

According to a recent letter to US-EPA officials from BAN: "The US-EPA cannot afford to begin to accept the word of a foreign company like Formosa Plastics that illegally exported this waste to Cambodia."

It's a company that refuses to pay any compensation to the victim country or population despite great financial costs, property damage and loss of life that occurred in that country as a result of the dumping incident," the letter added.